Average Italia (Bella Italia in General)

Member Name: Lools_24

Product:	Bella Italia in General
Date:	24/03/09 (124 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reasonable prices, wide choice of dishes on menu

Disadvantages: Pretty average, cramped

I'm a big fan of Italian food and dine out a lot (at least once per week) both for business and leisure but suprisingly I had never been to a Bella Italia.

Last month my boyfriend and I visited London and rather than book a table somewhere we went for drinks in Leicester Square and then decided the night would "go with the flow". After two drinks we were famished so wandered around Leicester Square and went to the first restaurant we could find... which happened to be Bella Italia.

From the outside it looked like the typical Italian chain restaurant, nothing particular eye catching but did have an appealing menu with plenty of choice.

The restaurant didn't look too busy when we walked in especially for 8.30pm in such a busy tourist area.... A member of staff came over immediately and showed us to our table around the corner (the restaurant is an L shape). That's when the problem came, the table was jammed in the corner next the wall and surrounded very closely by two other tables. I did ask for a different table but was told there wasn't any. I was too hungry to wait so we sat down. Now I am pretty petite and my boyfriend is only 5ft 9 (with short legs!!) ad we struggled to sit at the table comfortably. The American guy at the next table actually commented that "good job y'ant fatties" and how "well acquainted" we would be with his family by the end of the meal. Seriously I have sat further away from people on the same table as me in other restaurants compared with how close I was to the next table.

Service was pretty slow (because the waitress couldn't get through the tables to serve us!). It took 15 minutes to order drinks and 20minutes to order our food. The staff in general didn't speak very good English and I had to ask 3 different people to explain that my boyfriend ordered a different brand of lager when the drinks eventually came.

**The Menu**
The menu was pretty typical of an Italian chain restaurant. A large range of pizza and pasta dishes and a number of meat dishes. There were around 30 dishes on the main meals menu and about 10 on the starters menu. There were some unusual dishes. For example my boyfriend ordered a duck and plum sauce with pasta. This was gorgeous but it was slightly salty and because the portion was so large extremely filling. I ordered chicken with roasted veg with feta cheese. The roasted veg were perfect and not at all greasy like in some restaurants. The chicken was slightly dry though.

The garlic bread we ordered to share for starters was crispy but too greasy for my liking and a lot of oil was left on the plate even when we had finished.

The dessert menu had around 6 dishes on ranging from ice cream for £3 to Tiramisu at £4.50. I opted for the chocolate fudge cake which was £4 and extremely sweet and sickly (just how I like it).

**Prices**
Main meals were very reasonable, especially for a chain restaurant in central London. The Duck pasta dish my boyfriend ordered was £9 for a large portion, and my chicken and vegetables cost £13. The other pizza/ pasta dishes on the menu were between £7-£10 and the meat dishes £9-£14 , which is reasonable for a main meal. Starters were around £4-6 per dish, the garlic bread we shared was large and only cost £4.50. Desserts were around £4, which was very good as my chocolate fudge cake was a large portion and I am very please this was shared between my boyfriend and I as I would never have managed it on my own and left at least half despite being a huge chocolate fudge cake fan.

Once we ordered the food the starter arrived within 10 minutes. Once we had finished our garlic bread we waited around 40 minutes for our main meal to arrive which felt like ages as my boyfriend especially was starving. Because the restaurant was so cramped the temperature was stuffy and extremely warm, which made waiting for the food uncomfortable.

Once the food was served and eaten the bill was brought immediately. For 1 starter 2 main courses , 1 dessert and 2 rounds of drinks (2 white wines and 2 bottles of lager) came to around £44 which was average. That summed up the meal really.

Overall I probably wouldn't choose a Bella Italia restaurant to specifically visit again but I wouldn't say no if I was out with friends and it was suggested we eat there. The food was very average and if visiting an Italian chain of restaurants I would choose ASK or Strada any day over Bella Italia. I probably have been quite harsh in my review because I visited the Leicester Square restaurant which will not be the best example of the chain, but it was the venue, menu and service that was average which delivered a very average dining experience

Summary: An average Italian chain restaurant, not as good as Strada or ASK